212 Some Particulars of Discoveries in Egypt. 
the length of passage, cut through the solid rock, is 309 feet : the 
chambers, which are numerous, cut in a pure white rock, are co- 
~vered with paintings al fresco, well executed, and with hiero- 
-glyphics quite perfeet, and the colours as fresh as if newly laid on. 
In one of these chambers he found the exquisitely beautiful sar- 
cophagus of alabaster, mentioned in our fifty-first volume, nine 
feet five inches long, three feet nine inches wide, and two feet 
sone inch high, covered within and without with hieroglyphics § in 
intaglio, sounding like a bell and as transparent as glass—sup- 
posed by M. Belzoni to have been the depository of the remains 
of Apis. In the innermost room hefound the carcase of a bull em- 
balmed with asphaltum, which seems to give some confirmation 
to his idea. We are happy to learn that this matchless produc- 
tion is now on its way to England, to be placed by the side 
ofthe sarcophagus supposed to have contained the remains of 
Alexander. Mr. Salt, assisted by Mr. Beechey (son of the well- 
known artist of the same name), has, with much labour and care, 
copied several of the paintings within this tomb, which will by 
and by be given to the public. These paintings are quite fresh 
and perfect. ‘The colours employed are ‘ vermilion, ochres and 
‘indigo ;” and yet they are not gaudy, owing to the judicious ba- 
lance of colours and the artful management of the blacks. It 
is quite obvious [says Mr. Salt] that they worked on a regular 
‘system, which had for its basis, as Mr. West would say, the co- 
‘ours of the rainbow’; as there is not an ormament throughout 
‘their dresses where the red, yellow and blue are not alternately 
mingled, which produces a harmony that in some of the designs 
is really delicious. 
' Tt is a curious fact, that in one of the Theban tombs two st 
tues of wood, a little larger than life, were found as perfect as P 
newly’ carved, excepting in the sockets of the eyes, which had’ 
‘been of metal, probably copper. 
' We have yet to mention another successful labour ef M. Bel- 
zoni, perhaps the most singular, because, ‘to all appearance, the 
most hopeless and-unpromising—the opening of the second py- 
ramid of Ghiza, known by the name of Cephrenes. According 
‘to Herodotus, (whose information has generally been found cor- 
rect,) this pyramid was constructed without any internal cham- 
“bers. M. Belzoni; however, believed the fact might be otherwise ; 
‘and ‘having reasons of his own for commencing his operations at 
a ceftain point, he began his labours, and with so much foresight 
as actually to dig directly down upon a forced entrance. But 
even after this success, none’but-a Belzoni would have had the 
“perseverance to pursue the labour required to perfect the disco- 
very. It was by attending to the same kind of indications which 
-had led him so successfully to explore the six tombs of the kings in 
' Thebes, 
